Various fragrances, perfumes, and other personal care products are often worn so that the wearer exudes a pleasant or attractive scent. Fragrances and perfumes are typically mixtures or solutions of various volatile aromatic compounds in solvents or carriers, and may contain other components as well. The aromatic compounds may be naturally occurring, or may be synthetic. A typical fragrance may contain a mixture of compounds so that the exuded scent is complex, and the scent may change with time as compounds of differing volatility disperse at different rates.
Typically, a fragrance dissipates with time, and is reapplied periodically during the day or during a social engagement. The dissipation rate of a fragrance is variable, and is affected by the volatility of the fragrance, the skin characteristics of the wearer, temperature, air movement, and many other factors. The frequency at which a fragrance needs to be reapplied depends on the dissipation rate, and also on the personal taste of the wearer.
Manually reapplying a fragrance may be inconvenient and may cause an unwanted disruption in a social occasion. It would be desirable for a fragrance to be dispensed or reapplied automatically and unobtrusively. Previous fluid dispensing systems have suffered various difficulties, including large size, excessive power consumption, and poor alignment between the size of droplets of fluid dispensed with the needs of a fragrance dispenser.